Review – A Trick of the Light by Addison Cain

Prohibition has a stranglehold on legitimate business, but for small towns willing to play dirty, and country boys looking to make a pretty penny on shine, Prohibition has been a boon. For Monroe County, it’s the very life blood that keeps their backwoods community afloat.

But something isn’t right about the new girl in town. Charlotte Elliot swears, she drinks, and she’s trying too damn hard to fit in with the simple folk. The moonshining backbone of Monroe, Matthew Emerson, is less than thrilled when the blonde comes knocking on his door.

He knows what she is, what she’s capable of.

Charlotte doesn’t mind his glares. All she pines for is a quiet place to start over, but try as she might, there is no pleasing Matthew. The gruff outlaw is only too happy to point out her flaws, to correct her mouth, and to find himself spellbound and awkward every time he happens to catch her pretty blue eyes.

A rotten past has a way of catching up with a girl, and the most notorious gangster in Chicago has found her¬—and he wants her back. Matthew aims to keep her, but if he wants her, if he really loves her, he has the fight of his life on his hands.

I received this book for free from the Publisher or Author in exchange for an honest review, or I purchased it with my own funds. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

When I first picked up this book, I was immediately drawn to the cover and the blurb. But I didn’t really pay that much attention to the blurb because I don’t typically read books set in this time period. I know. Prohibition, Mobsters, and Moonshine. It all sounds great. But wrapping my head around the fact that although the heroine was a strong independent woman, she wasn’t really supposed to be. I know. A little too caught up on the little things in the bigger picture, but it was just something that caused an internal conflict with my brain…sorry. Let’s get down to the review, shall we?

Charlotte Elliot, aka Charlie, is a real life bounty hunter. That’s right. After being dealt a crap childhood and trying to make ends meat, she ended up disguising herself as her brother, acted like a boy/man and well…you’ll learn the rest. So when she rolls through a small town outside of Chicago while carrying her latest bounty, she’s struck with the, “I want to sit and look at things” bug. She tries so hard to fit in with the locals, even trying to impress “the man” in town, that she keeps finding herself slipping into the bounty man instead of the lady she’s supposed to be. Add in the fact that she’s being “courted” by her old pals back in Chicago and you’ve got yourself one hell of a story.

Matthew Emerson is “the man”. Yep. Big alpha man in a small town who supplies all of the local watering holes and gangsters with his moonshine. Prohibition is almost over and he’s all too aware that he needs something else to fall back on when that time comes. But when Charlie shows up, knocking him off his rocker and burying her unique charm under his skin, he’s screwed. So much so that he’s finding himself doing things he never thought he’d do in a million years. But she’s worth it, right?

This story took a little bit of getting used to for me. But once I got in to the story itself and not caught up in the time period, I was able to enjoy it for what it was. A good story. I really enjoyed the extra moments between the Emerson brothers and Charlie. Nathaniel and Eli sure brought the fun to the story. Ok, mainly Nathaniel. All in all, well written story with a lovely bad girl heroine who gets the big kindhearted alpha. Beautiful.